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Sony Worldwide

For Lenny / Downes

$7.49
$14.98 Save 50%

Details

Composer
BERNSTEIN, LEONARD
Artist
Downes, Giddens, Hampson, Morales-Martinez, Olusola
Format
CD
Label
Sony Worldwide
Released
Feb 09, 2018
Catalog #
84284011251
UPC
842840112518

About

Lara Downes’ new album For Lenny celebrates the 100th birthday of Leonard Bernstein with a special friends-and-family tribute to the man behind the music. The recording features Bernstein’s aptly-named Anniversaries for Piano, new arrangements of his songs, and world premieres of works dedicated to Bernstein by leading American composers including Stephen Sondheim, John Corigliano, and Stephen Schwartz. The album is introduced by an essay from acclaimed New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik.

Taking her inspiration from Bernstein’s boundary-breaking approach to music-making, Lara has invited a diverse group of guest artists: opera legend Thomas Hampson, roots singer Rhiannon Giddens, superstar beatboxer Kevin “K.O.” Olusola (a member of the chart-topping a cappella group Pentatonix), and Mexican/American clarinet prodigy Javier Morales-Martinez.

Describing FOR LENNY, Lara says: “Leonard Bernstein reminds me of what a musician can be. Of what music can do in this world – how it can reach and teach and make things happen. Just imagine what American music was before Lenny came along, everything he changed. I’m only here at all, I think, because of the rules he broke and the doors he knocked down. Imagine the thousands of other musicians who feel the same way.”

-----

REVIEW:

In the midst of all of this abundance, pianist Lara Downes seems to have homed in on the sweet spot for giving this hard-working musician with a larger-than-life reputation a tribute recording that manages to be sincere without going over the top with adulation.... Downes’ recording may well have qualities that will endure long after the celebratory shouts of “Bravo!” have evaporated into the ether.

– The Rehearsal Studio (Stephen Smoliar)

Tracklist 28 tracks

  1. 1 West Side Story, Act I: Something's Coming 02:21
    Track
    1
    Title
    West Side Story, Act I: Something's Coming
    Duration
    02:21
    Composer
    Leonard Bernstein
    Performer
    Kevin Olusola, Lara Downes
  2. 2 Anniversary for Lenny 01:41
    Track
    2
    Title
    Anniversary for Lenny
    Duration
    01:41
    Composer
    John Corigliano Jr.
    Performer
    Lara Downes
  3. 3 Anniversaire for Lenny 01:47
    Track
    3
    Title
    Anniversaire for Lenny
    Duration
    01:47
    Composer
    Stephen Schwartz
    Performer
    Lara Downes
  4. 4 Romance for Lenny 02:08
    Track
    4
    Title
    Romance for Lenny
    Duration
    02:08
    Composer
    Eleonor Sandresky
    Performer
    Lara Downes
  5. 5 Iconoclasm (for Lenny) 03:29
    Track
    5
    Title
    Iconoclasm (for Lenny)
    Duration
    03:29
    Composer
    Michael Abels
    Performer
    Lara Downes
  6. 6 Fancy Free: Big Stuff 03:03
    Track
    6
    Title
    Fancy Free: Big Stuff
    Duration
    03:03
    Composer
    Leonard Bernstein
    Performer
    Lara Downes
  7. 7 4 Anniversaries: No. 2. For Johnny Mehegan 00:46
    Track
    7
    Title
    4 Anniversaries: No. 2. For Johnny Mehegan
    Duration
    00:46
    Composer
    Leonard Bernstein
    Performer
    Lara Downes
  8. 8 7 Anniversaries: No. 1. For Aaron Copland 01:17
    Track
    8
    Title
    7 Anniversaries: No. 1. For Aaron Copland
    Duration
    01:17
    Composer
    Leonard Bernstein
    Performer
    Lara Downes
  9. 9 13 Anniversaries: No. 3. For Stephen Sondheim 01:27
    Track
    9
    Title
    13 Anniversaries: No. 3. For Stephen Sondheim
    Duration
    01:27
    Composer
    Leonard Bernstein
    Performer
    Lara Downes
  10. 10 Evening Primrose: I Remember (arr. for piano) 02:08
    Track
    10
    Title
    Evening Primrose: I Remember (arr. for piano)
    Duration
    02:08
    Composer
    Stephen Sondheim
    Performer
    Lara Downes
  11. 11 West Side Story, Act I: Cool (arr. for clarinet and piano) 01:07
    Track
    11
    Title
    West Side Story, Act I: Cool (arr. for clarinet and piano)
    Duration
    01:07
    Composer
    Leonard Bernstein
    Performer
    Javier Morales-Martinez, Lara Downes
  12. 12 Wonderful Town: Story of My Life (arr. J. Distler for piano) 02:34
    Track
    12
    Title
    Wonderful Town: Story of My Life (arr. J. Distler for piano)
    Duration
    02:34
    Composer
    Leonard Bernstein
    Performer
    Lara Downes
  13. 13 Arias and Barcarolles: No. 5. Greeting (arr. L. Downes for piano) 02:16
    Track
    13
    Title
    Arias and Barcarolles: No. 5. Greeting (arr. L. Downes for piano)
    Duration
    02:16
    Composer
    Leonard Bernstein
    Performer
    Lara Downes
  14. 14 Innocent Psalm (for the Bernstein baby) 01:12
    Track
    14
    Title
    Innocent Psalm (for the Bernstein baby)
    Duration
    01:12
    Composer
    Marc Blitzstein
    Performer
    Lara Downes
  15. 15 No. 6. For My Daughter, Nina 01:59
    Track
    15
    Title
    No. 6. For My Daughter, Nina
    Duration
    01:59
    Composer
    Leonard Bernstein
    Performer
    Lara Downes
  16. 16 No. 11. For Felicia, on our 28th Birthday (and her 52nd) 01:26
    Track
    16
    Title
    No. 11. For Felicia, on our 28th Birthday (and her 52nd)
    Duration
    01:26
    Composer
    Leonard Bernstein
    Performer
    Lara Downes
  17. 17 So Pretty 02:27
    Track
    17
    Title
    So Pretty
    Duration
    02:27
    Composer
    Leonard Bernstein
    Performer
    Rhiannon Giddens, Lara Downes
  18. 18 Anniversary in Memoriam (for Lenny) 03:34
    Track
    18
    Title
    Anniversary in Memoriam (for Lenny)
    Duration
    03:34
    Composer
    Daron Aric Hagen
    Performer
    Lara Downes
  19. 19 5 Anniversaries: No. 2. For Lucas Foss 01:44
    Track
    19
    Title
    5 Anniversaries: No. 2. For Lucas Foss
    Duration
    01:44
    Composer
    Leonard Bernstein
    Performer
    Lara Downes
  20. 20 For Lenny (Variation on New York, New York) 01:54
    Track
    20
    Title
    For Lenny (Variation on New York, New York)
    Duration
    01:54
    Composer
    Lukas Foss
    Performer
    Lara Downes
  21. 21 What Shall We Remember? (arr. for piano) 04:12
    Track
    21
    Title
    What Shall We Remember? (arr. for piano)
    Duration
    04:12
    Composer
    Ricky Ian Gordon
    Performer
    Lara Downes
  22. 22 Mass: Hymn and Psalm, "A Simple Song" 04:21
    Track
    22
    Title
    Mass: Hymn and Psalm, "A Simple Song"
    Duration
    04:21
    Composer
    Leonard Bernstein
    Performer
    Thomas Hampson, Lara Downes
  23. 23 Exuberance (for Lenny) 00:58
    Track
    23
    Title
    Exuberance (for Lenny)
    Duration
    00:58
    Composer
    Shulamit Ran
    Performer
    Lara Downes
  24. 24 13 Anniversaries: No. 4. For Craig Urquhart 01:11
    Track
    24
    Title
    13 Anniversaries: No. 4. For Craig Urquhart
    Duration
    01:11
    Composer
    Leonard Bernstein
    Performer
    Lara Downes
  25. 25 Remembering Lenny 04:09
    Track
    25
    Title
    Remembering Lenny
    Duration
    04:09
    Composer
    Craig Urquhart
    Performer
    Lara Downes
  26. 26 Goodbye Chorale (for Lenny) 02:25
    Track
    26
    Title
    Goodbye Chorale (for Lenny)
    Duration
    02:25
    Composer
    Theo Bleckmann
    Performer
    Lara Downes
  27. 27 Youth, Day, Old Age and Night (arr. L. Downes for piano) 02:40
    Track
    27
    Title
    Youth, Day, Old Age and Night (arr. L. Downes for piano)
    Duration
    02:40
    Composer
    Ned Rorem
    Performer
    Lara Downes
  28. 28 On the Town, Act II: Some Other Time (arr. J. Distler for piano) 03:30
    Track
    28
    Title
    On the Town, Act II: Some Other Time (arr. J. Distler for piano)
    Duration
    03:30
    Composer
    Leonard Bernstein
    Performer
    Lara Downes